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Coalbed Natural Gas Alliance at the
NILE Rodeo
The CBNG Alliance participated in the NILE Rodeo in Billings, Montana via two forums this year. The Alliance sponsored the Cowboy Hospitality Room - a room set-aside for the more than 300 cowboys who participated in the rodeo events. The room was supplied with food, beverages and information about coalbed natural gas - all compliments of the CBNG Alliance. The sponsorship of this event allowed the Alliance to advertise in the rodeo arena to the more than 20,000 attendees of the rodeo creating awareness of the Coalbed Natural Gas Alliance and its partnership with the region and its communities.

Securing and manning a booth to provide information to those attending the NILE Rodeo was also a part of the participation. CBNG Alliance Coordinator, Karen Brown and Grassroots Organizer, Joanne Tweedy worked throughout the four days to answer questions, provide written materials and to further educate those NILE attendees interested in learning more about coalbed natural gas. Additional booth staffing was provided by Mike Mungas and Duane Zimmerman of Nance Petroleum (a wholly owned subsidiary of St. Mary Land & Exploration) and Jevin Crouteau of JM Huber. A team approach was utilized to educate and answer questions - the team approach encompassed having a rancher with CBNG development on her ranch and a technical scientific representative answer questions.

An informal tracking of the several hundred attendees that stopped by the booth yielded an overall positive attitude toward the development of coalbed natural gas throughout the Powder River Basin. Estimates are that 6 of 10 people who stopped by supported development - 2 of 10 were unsure of the appropriate course of action and were seeking more data - and 2 were opposed (and somewhat rudely so) to coalbed natural gas development.

Having a booth at the NILE Rodeo also served to answer specific questions raised by the radio ad and letter campaign that the Northern Plains Resource Council (NPRC) had running opposing the federal energy bill and coalbed natural gas development. The NPRC asked via the letter and radio ad that people call their congressional representatives to tell them NOT to support the Domenici-Tauzin energy bill.